The invention disclosed herein relates to a molding toy, a toy molding process and a mold for molding or casting toy objects, particularly toy metal objects.
Many toy molding processes require heat either to liquefy or cure (set) the molding material, and many molding toys include a toy oven to provide the heat. Molding materials with relatively low melting points have been selected for use in toy molding processes which liquefy a molding material that is normally solid at room temperature for safety, cost and other reasons. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,299,548 and 4,215,843. Such low melting point molding materials used in molding toys heretofore have been plastics. Because such plastic materials are of low density, the toy objects molded from them are of low density and lightweight. This detracts from play value and enjoyment because many lightweight toy objects do not seem realistic, for example toy vehicles and toy jewelry items.
Another deficiency in molded toy objects made from plastic materials using toy molding processes is that they typically lack fine detail, as compared to commercial molded objects and objects molded from plaster of Paris, although U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,593, discussed below, discloses a molding toy which molds plastic toy objects with fine detail using a three-piece mold set having undercuts (projections and recesses which are perpendicular to the angle of draw, i.e., the direction in which the mold is opened). Without such detail some toy objects may not seem realistic, which detracts from the play value of the molded toy objects.
Realism in toys usually increases the play value of the toys, as the two characteristics described above suggest. However, not only do realistic toy objects have high play value, but so also does a toy that enables a child to make realistic toy objects, since there would normally be more play value in making a realistic or fun toy than a crude one. The ability of a child to make something realistic or with which the child can have fun simply adds to the play value of the toy. The Creepy Crawler.RTM. line of molding toys, sold by the assignee of this application (Toymax Inc., Westbury, N.Y.) demonstrates this. That line uses a plastisol molding material (Plasti-Goop.RTM.) and molds with insect shapes (among a great many others) from which a child may mold insect-looking and otherwise creepy objects. The cured plastisol is flexible, and objects like spiders may be made with thin flexible legs. The Creepy Crawler.RTM. toy provides play value when a child makes the molded toy objects and when the child plays with the molded objects.
A toy which would enable a child to make realistic molded objects from metal would provide the dual play value described above. However, high temperatures are required to liquefy most metals which present certain problems in toys such as cost and the risk of injury from hot parts within the toy or spilled hot molding material, or a hot just molded object, and from electrical shock. While toy ovens, for example the toy ovens disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,745, may include interlock mechanisms which preclude access to an interior heatable chamber when it is hot or when the power switch is on, these ovens may not be suitable for liquefying most, if not all, metals, and have not addressed the spillage problem.
The toy mold system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,593, mentioned above, can be used to make fully configured molded plastic toy objects with fine detail and with undercuts. That mold system comprises rigid mold sections, disclosed to be preferably made of metal. The molding material, a plastic, is introduced in the molding system as a solid, and the mold system is heated to liquefy the molding material directly in the mold system. Tremendous play value is achieved because toy objects such as miniature cars may be formed with great detail and with undercut portions, and from a plastic molding material that is rigid when it solidifies. However, more play value could be obtained with a toy that can form highly detailed toy objects, which preferably have undercuts, which require more interactivity from a child using the toy and which molds metal objects.
There is a need for a molding toy which, individually and collectively, can mold toy objects of metal, can mold highly detailed toy objects, with undercuts, is highly interactive, includes one or more appropriate interlocks, greatly reduces or eliminates the risk of spillage of hot liquefied molding material, and is relatively inexpensive to make. The invention provides such a toy, an embodiment of which is presently being sold by Toymax Inc. of Westbury, N.Y., the assignee of this application, under the trademarks "Metal Molder" and "Die Cast Factory".